


Just a cute story about grubs

by Lemu



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Grubs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-11
Updated: 2012-06-03
Packaged: 2017-10-21 07:04:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/222262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lemu/pseuds/Lemu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two runty grubs overcome the brutality of "survival of the fittest" by depending on one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Persistent New Friend

A small, lithe predator crouched between two jagged rocks. It overlooked a large underground chamber that was absolutely chock full of prey. Troll grubs. All over the place. Tasty little morsels in comparison to the hunter’s size. Keeping low to the ground, it took a few long strides forward, focusing on one individual slightly separated from the rest of the mass.

 _Snap_. Caught one.

It then focus it’s attention on the next nearest grub, which was well aware of the danger now, and had begun to chirp loudly. Another one joined in, and within a moment, there was a whole chorus of tiny larvae making a fuss over the intruder.

The predator hissed in annoyance, and snapped at a grub near one of its long legs.

 _CRACK_.

It didn’t even get a chance to know what had hit it. The brooding drone’s powerful beak had already snapped its neck. The drone, at least twice the size of the predator it had just killed, wasted no time in dragging the carcass out to the center of the chamber, and using her sharp beak to slice the dead creature open, from the throat to the crotch, and left it out in the open.

It was now a feast for the tiny creatures it had been hunting.

The commotion was noticed by almost all of the grubs in the chamber, who began flocking toward the center in a sort of feeding frenzy. Only a few chose not to join in the feast. A runt-sized red grub favored the safety of a little crevice between two stone slabs, which was just the right size to provide a cozy little shelter for him. For the past few days, he had been living off of his favorite snack, millipedes, which crawl between the rocks he liked to hide within. However, there were suddenly no more millipedes, and a grub’s metabolism was fast. Hunger certainly urged him to join the feeding frenzy, but he was at great unease. He had been attacked by other grubs before. He had learned to keep to himself whenever possible.

Hunger eventually won. Tentatively, the red grub moved away from his shelter and toward the crowded center of the chamber. He could already smell the blood of the carcass and it teased his empty stomach something awful. It was starting to get a bit too crowded for his comfort, but his hunger would not let him turn back until-

 _HISSSSSS_! The red grub’s fears had come true once again. A much bigger grub, the color of tarnished gold, had spun around and gave a very aggressive hiss. The poor red could hardly back up fast enough, and the gold lunged forward and bit down hard on the red’s nose, and shook its head side to side mercilessly. The red squealed in terror and managed to squirm free from his aggressor’s grip, and turned to retreat, only to get one more bite on his backside. The message was clear: get lost. Runts don’t grow into adults.

He crawled back to his crevice, bleeding and even hungrier than before. He lay down just at the entrance, and watched the feast from a distance, with the hopes that possibly the commotion would die down and he would get his chance to eat. Eventually, the other grubs did disperse, only to reveal a clean-picked skeleton in the center of the chamber. Giving up on food for the time, the red grub retreated back into the crevice too nurse his injuries. They were more severe than last time he had been in a fight. He lay down to rest, too exhausted to do anything else. He didn’t even try to get up when he heard the distinctive scuttling sound of a millipede behind the rocks. He fell into a deep sleep in a last effort to regain his strength.

 _Chirp_.

The sound was close enough to cause the red to wake up, albeit rather disgruntled. Chirp chirp chirp. It was coming from right outside of his little hidey-hole. The red became alarmed but was too weak to get up and investigate. He just pressed himself into the corner and silently hoped the intruder would lose interest and leave.  
After a moment or two of silence, the red began to relax. Seemed like it was just a passerby. Ignoring the hunger pains, he closed his eyes and resumed sleep.

 _CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP_!

The red jolted back awake, scrambling and hissing. Now, he found himself face-to-face with another grub that managed to squeeze through the tight crevice. The teal female was no bigger than he was, in fact, and she seemed quite intrigued by the little red. She gave another friendly chirp, and nudged the red, who responded with an annoyed chatter.

But when he looked closer, he noticed a scab over the teal’s brow. It seemed she had been attacked by a bigger grub as well, for being tiny. Part of him couldn’t really blame her for wanting to take shelter. He wasn’t pleased about it, but decided to at least try to tolerate his guest for a while. Even if she was being overly friendly.

The little teal didn’t understand why the red wouldn’t get up. She wanted to play. Her chirps moved from a cheerful sound to a more worried sound, as she repeatedly nudged the red. He looked at her with annoyance, but his eyes were dull and lifeless.

Oh! He must be hungry. Starvation was a common death for undersized grubs. The little teal gave the red a reassuring purr and a nuzzle and bounded out of the crevice, leaving him very confused and disgruntled.

After a while, it seemed the teal wasn’t coming back. The little red wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that he finally had peace and quiet, or despairing that his possible chance to survive was gone. From the looks of it, he wasn’t going to live to see the next feeding frenzy anyway, let alone have the strength to compete for food. Giving up quietly, he closed his eyes and prayed that the pain in his belly would go away soon.

Only once more, he found himself rudely awakened from the sweet embrace of death by the little teal, who was nudging him and whimpering pitifully. She just refused to let him die. The red opened his mouth to chatter at her, but at that moment, the teal shoved something in his mouth. All at once, the red’s senses came flooding back to him. Was that a piece of meat…? No, it was even better- a piece of liver. The little red could hardly snap and gulp the piece down fast enough before he was sniffing around for more. The teal purred in delight and moved to the side to reveal her treasure: a chink of liver a little more than half her own size. The red didn’t think of questioning how she got the food. He tore into the meat and feasted, as his eyes began to shine with life once more.

He ate about half of the chunk before settling down to rest. Starving or not, he didn’t want to get a cramp from eating too fast. He noticed the teal was still there, watching him eat with a pleased grin. Now, he noticed that she had some fresh, new wounds on her. She must have gotten them while bringing him food. After all, liver was the most nutritious part of a kill. It was likely coveted by every other grub in the brooding chamber. It was hard for him to imagine a runt like her fighting off other hungry grubs, but she somehow managed to do it, and was sitting there with a big carefree grin.

This was a new feeling for the little red: gratitude. Another grub he’d never seen before nearly got herself killed saving his sorry butt. He looked at the remaining piece of liver, and then pushed it back toward the little teal. She blinked in surprise, then tentatively took a bite. The red chirped softly, moved around her and began to lick one of her wounds. It wasn’t long before both of them were nestled side by side, sharing food and purring to one another. The little red couldn’t help but think that this was a lot nicer than he was expecting it to be. She had already fallen asleep, _chirr_ ing as she nestled closer to him.

This…

…really was nice.


	2. The First Date goes Horribly Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cute turns to awful really fast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did some bug research for this chapter

A faint scuttling noise woke the red from his sleep. At long last, a millipede to hunt! He got up slowly, trying not to rouse the sleeping teal, and focused on the source of the sound. Perhaps he could catch her a present. He hopped up on a rock and pawed at some of the small pebbles behind it. What popped out wasn’t a millipede, but as it turned out, something that would make an even better present for the playful little teal.

 _Chirp? Chirp!_ The teal woke and shook away the groggies at the sound of the red’s chirping. He was looking down at her from atop a smooth rock, with something small and round clasped between his front feet. He dropped it and let it bounce down and roll to a stop right below the little teal’s nose. She sniffed at it for a moment, before it suddenly opened up to reveal many tiny legs inside of it. The teal jumped back with a startled hiss as the strange leggy ball rolled itself over and began to scuttle away. She had never seen a roly-poly bug before, and did not know what to make of it. She crept up on it and tapped it with her foot. The bug responded by rolling back up into a perfect ball. Curiosity quickly turned into amusement as she began to bat the little bug about, chasing it around until it rolled under a rock. The teal tried to reach underneath to get to it, but couldn’t get her little paw under the rock.

Disheartened, she looked up at the Red and chirped softly to him. He didn’t look sad about losing the roly-poly bug at all. He chirped, and gestured with a turn of his head for her to climb up to where he was. She scrambled at the rock a bit before finding a foothold. She wasn't as used to climbing on rocks as he was. He waited patiently for her to get up to the top. He had something to show her. When she finally reached him, he presented to her a different bug dangling from his mouth- a fat millipede.

The millipede was trying to curl up to protect itself, but that was hard to accomplish while dangling from the mouth of a predator. _Snip!_ The red bit the millipede in half, taking half for himself to lick up the gooey inside. The teal watched on with confusion for a moment. She had never associated bugs with food. But the red seemed to be enjoying it, so she decided to at least give her half a taste. It was slimy, yet it had a sweet, meaty taste, and licking it out of the exoskeleton was kind of fun. The innards were gone fast, and the husk cast away, and the two grubs were immediately looking for more tasty millipedes.

The red began showing the teal all the "tricks of the trade". Listening, digging, pulling out a bug that had lodged itself in between the rocks. She was getting the hang of it very quickly. She held her breath, tilted her head and listened to the faint scuttling noises between the rocks. She could hear something that sounded _big_ behind a big rock a ways over. She was sure the red could hear it too, but he didn't react to it. Feeling rather confident in her newfound bug-catching skills, the teal crept up to the source of the noise.

Now she stood right in front of the rock that she was certain was hiding the source of the scuttling noise. She peeked into the crevice behind it, but she detected no movement... Feeling unsure, she chirped to the little red, who bounded right over to see what was up. He pressed close to the rock and listened for only a brief moment, before jumping back with an angry chatter. The teal became flustered, thinking that she had done something bad and that the little red was mad at her. Frozen in place, she looked back and forth from the chattering red to the dark crevice behind the rock.

The red took matters into his own little paws as he grabbed the teal and pulled himself and her off of the small ledge they were on. The little teal squealed and scrambled awkwardly as she fell and landed safely on top of the red. Looking up, she saw two long, thin antennae sticking out of the crevice above. There was simply no time for curiosity now. The red wriggled out from beneath her and hissed fiercely at the strange feelers above.

As if on cue, a long, armored, and many legged monstrosity slowly emerged from the crevice. That was most certainly no millipede. It was yellow, orange and black, with a large head and big, thick mandibles that could easily crush a young grub. While the teal was frozen in fear before this giant adversary, familiarity screamed in the red's mind. _Centipede!_

The little red began nudging the teal away, while never taking his eyes off of the looming predator, and never ceasing his hiss. The teal snapped out of her terrified trance and realized that the little red was pushing her away, and standing up to the centipede alone. Certainly he didn't mean to fight the centipede! It was more than twice his size! As the centipede began to crawl down the rock toward the red, the teal took a few steps ahead of the little red and joined him in hissing at the enemy.

The centipede looked back and forth between its feisty prey. Unable to wait any longer, he swatted the teal away with the side of its huge mandibles and lunged at the red. Acting quickly, the red jumped back and swatted at the centipede's mandibles with his front feet. There was simply no time for fear, now. The red knew he wasn't fast enough to outrun the centipede, and besides that, he had something to protect.

The centipede was a smart hunter. It knew that even though the grub's body was soft, it's feet were much more solid and a swat to the centipede's delicate inner jaws could do damage. The red knew this as well. This was not his first time fighting a centipede, but this was surely the biggest he'd ever seen. No matter how the centipede moved, the red made sure to stay facing it's jaws, front feet up in the air and ready to fight.

Something brought the centipede's attention to its backside, suddenly. The little teal had gotten back to her feet and was now biting down as hard as she could on one of the centipede's many legs. There was a loud _snap_ , and the leg came off, causing the teal to tumble over from the released force. The centipede screeched and lunged for the teal, turning away from the red.

The little red, desperate to get the centipede away from his little teal, attacked the closest part of the centipede, which turned out to be one of it's delicate, sensitive antennae. The enraged arthropod reared up and shrieked in pain, swinging its head side to side, and flinging the poor red into a rock beside the teal. Loosing any rational thoughts, the centipede lunged for the stunned grub before he could get back up.

Instinct took a back seat. Out of desperation, the teal boldly stood in front of the red and lunged forward, meeting the centipede's jaws head-on. The teal was instantly losing, but strived to do as much damage to the centipede as possible, even as the sharp mandibles came down on her sides. The centipede lifted its head, lifting the wounded grub off the ground and let her dangle as he held her in his death grip.

There was a pressure on the tendon behind the centipede's left mandible. As it had reared its head, the red grub had gotten beneath it and began to gnaw at the muscle connecting the powerful pincer to its head. With a painful _snip_ , the mandible became severed. The centipede flew into a rage, throwing the teal aside and coming down on the little red one final time. The red dodged back as his foe hit the ground with its face, and then jumped onto the back of the centipede's head and began to gnaw.

The centipede thrashed about, trying to shake the grub off, but the red held tight and refused to let go, gnawing away at where the head connected to the body segments. After a long handful of moments, the head was severed. The rest of the body flailed about for a moment, and then was reduced to a curled up, twitching corpse.

The red paused for a moment to catch his breath and bask in the victory. He had taken down a centipede three times his size! With the little teal's help, too. Of cour-

...Oh.

The little teal was lying by the rock she had struck when the centipede threw her. There was still part of the beast's mandible jabbed into her side, and her color was oozing out to form a pool around her. She wasn't moving.

The little red was at her side immediately, cooing and nuzzling his friend, trying to get any kind of response from her. He turned his attention to her wound, pulling the broken pincer out of her side and gingerly licking the wound clean. Thankfully, he didn't taste venom in her blood. The bite had been dry. But her wounds were deep, and her breathing was very shallow. Other than cleaning the wound, there wasn't much he could do for her. Paying no mind to his own injuries, he laid down beside her and continued calling to her with soft coos and nuzzles and licks. Maybe somehow he could coax back to the world of the living.

Living underground, grubs had no sense of time. However, it seemed like forever for the little red as he held vigil over his wounded friend. He refused to sleep for hours, fighting off his exhaustion from the fight until he finally passed out, nestled against the little teal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if I made you cry


	3. Life or death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kill or be killed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow holy shit this is a long chapter compared to the previous two. Also, it's a hell of a lot darker. I've expanded this fic to be four chapters long instead of three, so there is still one more to go!

The little red woke slowly from a dreamless sleep. His whole body felt sore for some reason. After a moment of blank thoughts, the memories of the centipede battle came flooding back. The body of the predator was still in his tiny cave, and the little teal- ...!

The little teal was still laying beside him. She hadn't moved in the slightest. The red gave a sad coo and nudged her gently. To his surprise, the teal gave a faint grunt in response. As the red began to nuzzle and lick her cheek, her eyes opened slowly and she blinked sleepily, then looked at the little red, and gave a very feeble chirp.

Relief flooded the little red as he chirped back to her, then snuggled against her with happy coos. The little teal wanted so badly to rejoice with him, but alas, was too weak and exhausted to move. She closed her eyes once more and fell back to sleep.

The red decided to leave her be for a while, so that she could rest and recover. Besides, his stomach was growling again. He looked over to the dead centipede. He had never eaten this kind of bug before, but it was worth a try. He pried off a piece of the exoskeleton and tasted the soft inner tissue.

_**BLUH!** _

Definitely no good for eating. It was kind of a shame. That monster would have kept them both well-fed for quite a while. He glanced back to the sleeping teal, as she gave a slight twitch in her slumber. He knew he had to find enough food for the both of them. After all, she had gone out of her way to save him when he had completely given up. Putting on a brave face, the little red left his crevice and scanned the chamber for a fresh kill or something.

It was hard for the little red to see far, being only about an inch high, and it was hard for him to hear anything over the din of chirps and squeals and chatters. He climbed up onto the rock above his crevice to see across the chamber. It looked like the last kill has been a while ago, because it was just about picked clean, save for the tougher muscles and tendons. It wasn't really worth the trek to the other side of the brooding chamber. So instead, he settled down in a relatively comfy spot and watched the brooding drones in the distance. He wanted to be the first to know if one of them killed something.

Though as he kept an eye out, he began to get a little edgy about other grubs. He didn't want to run the risk of getting attacked near his own little home, let alone get jumped in the crowd. As he pondered over what to do, an idea came over him. He hopped back into his crevice and retrieved the broken mandible that he had bitten off the centipede. It was surprisingly lightweight, and his teeth had a firm grip on it. Feeling rather proud now, he lifted up the mandible and strutted out of the crevice-

 _Thunk._

Aw, rats. The mandible was too wide to fit through the tight space. The little red grunted and tried to shove his way through, but to no avail. Quickly giving up on this endeavor, he backed up-

Oh shit, it was stuck. And now it was blocking the exit, as well.

Feeling rather embarrassed for himself, he glanced back at the little teal to make sure she was sleeping. He didn't want to look like a complete moron in front of her. She was still fast asleep, even drooling a tiny bit. The little red blinked and sniffed as his face started to match the color of his body. She was cute.

The red shook his head and turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He tried squeezing under the mandible, then tried climbing over it. It was wedged into just the right spot to prevent him from doing either of these things. Growing frustrated, he backed up, almost to where the teal lay, and began to growl and paw at the ground, before charging at the blockade and ramming into it headfirst as hard as he could.

The mandible was jolted loose and fell to the ground, and the red grub staggered back from the force of the impact. This probably would have gone better if his horns were not quite so tiny and nubby. He whimpered in pain and pawed at his head. There was definitely going to be a sore lump there later. But at least it got the job done. He carefully pushed the mandible out of the hole and stepped into the open chamber. Putting his embarrassing situation behind him, he set the mandible down against a rock and then hopped back up to his watchout spot.

Minutes passed before a screech echoed through the chamber, and a six-legged hunter came sprinting into the opening, with a drone hot at its heels. The predator was nimble, turning side to side on a dime, and it looked like it was going to get away as it made a break for the ledge leading out of the chamber... but its escape was intercepted by a second brooding drone that come out of the shadows and tore into the intruder’s slender neck, flinging the limp body aside, likely crushing a grub or two in doing so.

It was moments like this that the little red was glad he lived far from the action.

But now, there was food and it didn’t look too far away. The red wasted no time jumping from his rock and picking up the centipede mandible in his mouth, lifting it up high, and marched toward the clearing. Some of the grubs gave him odd, passing looks, but he went undisturbed for most of the trek, until he got into the feeding frenzy area. The smell of the blood made his stomach rumble. Hopefully there would still be liver or at least the rich dark meat for him to take...

As if on cue, a deep blue grub looked down at him from atop the carcass and hissed. He then reared up and banged his front feet on the carcass in a threat display. The little red responded by hopping up onto one of the dead predator’s slender legs and climbing up to its thigh, where he faced the blue grub on equal ground. He then set the mandible down in front of him and bared his teeth at the blue with a loud hiss.

The two grubs exchanged threat displays, hissing and snapping and pounding the ground, neither one of them backing down. Eventually, the blue started rumbling and lowering his head with his legs tense. The red picked up the mandible and turned his head sideways so that the sharp curved end pointed toward his opponent.

The blue lost its patience and attacked first, charging at the red with its mouth open. The red tensed up, fighting off panic as it let the blue get in close before- _there!_ The little red swung his head to the other side, and the sharp mandible connected with the side of the blue grub’s head. The blow wasn’t very forceful, but it still made the blue stagger to the side with a deep gash above its ear.

Surprisingly, a chorus of squeals and chatters rang out. So it turned out, they had gained an audience. The red looked around at the other grubs surrounding the carcass, some of them already inside and pulling out bits of meat. He began to panic a little, with every part of him not wanting to be in the spotlight like this.

Something hit him hard from the side. It was the now-very-angry blue grub, who the red had taken his mind off of at the wrong moment. The little red cried out in pain, dropping the mandible and watched as his precious weapon tumbled into the open gash in the dead animal’s ribcage. He needed to get to it or else...

The blue lunged at him again and this time out of desperation, the red returned the attack head-on and the two reared up upon collision, swatting and snapping at each other and getting both their faces bloodied up. The red felt himself slipping backward and succumbing to the pain of his wounds. He couldn’t let this happen, no _no_ _no_! The red shoved forward with all his might, surprising the overly-confident highblooded grub, and sent them both tumbling over each other into the steaming, open carcass.

At least the landing was soft. The red had ended up on top of the blue, giving him the opportunity to scramble away and search for his mandible. He could see it, half a foot away, lodged into what seemed to be the predator’s heart. The little red made a break for it, but before he could get away from the blue, his enemy had bit down on one of the red’s hind feet and shook his head, causing the red to squeal in agony. The red tried to cling to the inner flesh and pull himself away, but the blood made everything slippery and he found himself being dragged backward by the blue, away from his weapon.

The little red whipped his upper body around and snapped at the blue, his teeth closing with a painful click just millimeters away from the blue’s nose. The blue looked him right in the eye and bit down harder on his leg. At this rate, the red’s leg was seriously at risk of breaking off, and then his fate to a slow, painful death would be sealed. Freaking out, the red grub scooted ass-backward into his attacker, throwing the blue for a loop and making him loosen his grip, giving the red the opportunity to roll away and take cover under a deflated lung, crawling toward the heart, where his mandible was.

The blue remained dazed for a moment, after literally having his face sat on, before turning to look for his enemy. At first, the red was no where to be seen. The blue turned side to side, looking around, but in the cramped, sticky and smelly body cavity, it was hard to see anything, let alone a red grub who blended in quite well with the inner flesh of the carcass. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. The red grub had crawled out from under a lung, and was scrambling up to the heart. The blue snarled and gave chase, squeezing between the collapsed flesh and broken ribs to catch up to the red and finish him off.

The red knew the blue was coming. Panic set in as he tried to claw his way up onto the heart, but the blood just made him slip, and the blue grub was closing in on him. The red went around to the other side to try to find an easier way up, and found a broken rib bone sticking down and at a perfect angle to hop up on. He crawled up onto the soft heart and scrambled over to where the mandible was. Right in the nick of time, he grabbed the weapon as the blue grub hoisted himself up onto the organ and lunged at the red. The red swung the mandible to the side again, but this time, went the wrong way and merely bonked the grub on the head with the blunt side. If it was even possible to make the blue any madder, that seemed to have done it, because the blue borderline _screeched_ as it turned and lunged again. It was aware of the little red’s tactic this time, because as the red swung his weapon once more, the blue grabbed it in his own mouth and pulled the two off balance, sending them both tumbling deeper into the body cavity. The red landed awkwardly with the mandible on his chest and the blue inches above him, bearing down on him.

The red could only just put his front feet up to keep his attacker at bay as he grabbed the mandible in his mouth again and thrust it upward. It sank right into the blue between his front feet.

The two grubs were motionless for a moment. The red winced a bit as blue blood dripped onto his face, and the blue just slowly sank forward, each gasp growing fainter and fainter until it went slack on top of the red.

After those tense, motionless moments, the red shoved the dead grub off of himself, and paused to take in the situation. The dead grub that _he had just killed._

This should have felt much better than it was feeling at the moment.

The little red’s stomach growled, and he then remembered what he had come here for. At the moment, he was quite literally surrounded by food. And from the looks of the other grubs who had just witnessed the fight, no one was going to bother trying to stop him from eating. He silently crawled up out of the crevice, and turned his attention to the meat of the lower stomach, eating his fill alongside other grubs silently. Other fights between grubs had broken out, and most of them would end in a death, too. The little red paid them no mind.

Once he had eaten his fill, he tore off a chunk of pure, sweet meat and hooked the soft flesh onto the mandible, hoisted it high into the air, and turned back for his march home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to cut it off at this point or else this chapter would have been monstrous compared to the first two!
> 
> ...I feel like I took this fight scene way to seriously, wow.


	4. All This Time

The little teal stirred from her slumber when she heard the little red returning noisily as he dragged the somewhat oversized mandible through the rock crevice. Her heart soared when she saw what he was dragging on the thing, though. A healthy portion of tender meat, clearly fresh from the little bit of blood on it. Too eager to wait for him to bring it to her, she tried to get up to meet him, but her legs trembled beneath her and she collapsed right where she lay before, whimpering.

The red gave a worried coo as he brought the food over to her, sidling up to her as she tore hungrily into the meat. She would pause between mouthfuls now and then to nuzzle the little red out of gratitude, who was quite content to just lay by her and rest after his rather exhausting efforts.

The teal finished her piece off, then took a moment to stretch and yawn, then leaned back against the red, soaking in the warmth between their bodies. The teal gave a few soft chirps, and the red looked up at her to see what her deal was, but was totally unprepared for her to lean in and lick him right on the mouth. The red stiffened in shock, and the teal cooed happily and nestled closer with joyful nuzzles. 

\---

The little teal's wound from the battle with the centipede healed steadily as the days passed, and the little red's fears of the open brooding chamber subsided as he grew more and more bold when it came to fetching food for him and his sweetheart. The two grubs eventually worked out a system: they would take turns retrieving food, letting the other rest and recover before heading back out into the danger open area.

As the days became weeks, the grubs were no longer runts. Unfortunately, this also meant that they had to abandon the rock crevice where they had taken shelter. Regardless, the dead centipede was starting to smell kinda funky.

But no longer did they have to fear the other grubs in the chamber. The two of them had reached full size for a grub, and both were strong, fat and healthy. Their once squishy little bodies were now tubes of muscle, and getting food was no problem when they were strong enough to tear up the tougher meat on a carcass that the younger grubs wouldn't touch. They did not worry about predators. Not even the biggest centipede was insane enough to try to take them on at this point, and their sharp teeth would even make a hungry snake think twice. Also, the once constant threat of starvation was gone, now that their metabolisms had slowed, and they spent the majority of their time on the high ledges around the edge of the chamber, simply lounging about. 

As far as life underground went for grubs, they were living in the lap of luxury. However, it was not meant to last. Instinct was slowing drawing them away from the chamber all together, and drawing their attention toward the roof of the dark chambers beyond. Unease grew in their hearts, because both had the feeling that they wouldn’t have much more time together. 

Naturally, change came with time, and time is an unstoppable force. It happened when the two of them had been napping together in a dark corridor. The teal woke up and restlessly looked upward, searching the grooves and crevices in the dim light. Her body knew it was time. She softly nuzzled and licked the sleeping red, careful not to wake him. It would be much harder for her to leave him if he was awake. Then, she turned around and began to scale the wall dexterously with her long front legs. Before long, raw instinct pushed out any thoughts of the red grub she was leaving behind. 

The red stirred from his sleep a while later, noticing right away that the teal was not in her usual spot. The red suspected nothing at first. She must have been hungry or moved away from where they slept to do her business. The red settled back down and gave a few chirps to at least hear where his teal friend went off to. After a few moments of silence, the red got up and chirped a bit louder, listening hard for a reply. Worry began to set in. Maybe she wandered out of earshot and then got stuck someplace? He doubted that; she was a smart grub. Or maybe a predator...

The red began to wander, calling out loudly for his companion. The minutes dragged on more slowly than ever as he continued to get no sign of her. Growing exhausted, the red continued to drag himself further down the corridor, loosing all track of where he even was, before he simply passed out on the spot. 

The following few days were difficult for the red. He continued his search for his friend, but as each attempt came out fruitless, he slowly began to accept that she was gone. Besides, his own instincts were starting to rewrite themselves, drawing his focus upward as well. All the fat that he had packed on had to be for something. By the next day, he was making his way up the wall, eying a good sized crevice in the ceiling...

\---

"Karkat," Terezi said, as they were laying down somewhere on LOTAF, catching their breath after being chased by a rather tough enemy. "How much do you remember of your grubhood?"

Karkat looked over at her. "No one can remember that far. Did you accidentally eat sopor or something? "

"Well, I have been remembering quite a bit lately," she stated. "Maybe it’s because of my powers as the Seer of Mind, but my grubhood has been coming back to me." 

Karkat rolled over onto his side to face the blind girl. "That’s wonderful! Now tell me why this is relevant at the moment."

Terezi turned to face him as well, though it didn't change her ability to smell him, it was still considered proper to face the troll you're talking to. "I remember a particular grub I used to stick with. A bright red male. Seems like the color narrows down the choices to only one individual, hmmm?" She gave him her signature grin that sent a chill down his spine as it usually did.

"You’re claiming we've been together since grubhood?" Karkat questioned. "Wow, even the corniest romance movies don’t pull that kind of shit."

"Karkat, I’m being serious!" Terezi huffed. “My powers wouldn't lie to me. I know what I’ve seen really happened! You fought and killed a huge bug to protect me!"

Karkat took her words into consideration. "Yeah, it’s only natural. That I was that hardcore from day one." 

Terezi's grin grew wider as she went on. "Wouldn't you know it, after that you went out of your way to take care of my injury. So admit to being a big sweetheart too, Karkles!"

She merely got a disgruntled growl as a response. 

It was that moment that Terezi decided to try something. It had been an idea that she had been dwelling on for some time, and she figured now was the time to test the extent of her mental gifts. "Karkat, turn toward me." She said. He did so, not suspecting anything of her. Terezi took both of his hands in hers, bringing them up to her head, while leaning forward until their foreheads touched. Karkat didn't even get a chance to complain before Terezi cut him off. "Relax, trust me."

"Wh-what are you trying to do?" Karkat asked nervously.

"I want to try to jog your memory using my powers," Terezi said bluntly.

"You know you can’t control others’ minds, you’re not Vriska."

"But I’m not controlling," Terezi corrected him. "I’m just giving you a few mental cues." With that, she concentrated on her powers, and Karkat suddenly found every other thought had been pushed from his mind.

What he was "seeing" in his memory was a cave. Dark, damp, warm and full of wrigglers of all colors. Yeah, this was a brooding chamber, where all grubs undergo their first month or so, weeding out the weak and unfit. Then, he saw a rock wall at the chamber's edge. There was a crack in it, creating a deep crevice and a crawl space inside. Somehow, that crevice seemed awfully familiar and inviting. 

He was then seeing the inside of the crevice, with its stone edges and dark corners. There were a few pieces of dead bugs scattered about. But the most prominent feature was the great big orange centipede, rearing menacingly in the center of the open space.

After that, the images faded. Terezi released him, pulling away. "Don’t you remember any of that?"

Karkat did not respond. He was too lost in thought, fixated upon the centipede he had seen. He knew that creature. He could see it moving in his mind, swaying side to side like he remembered it personally. Perhaps Terezi really did cause him to have a flashback to his grubhood? "Terezi, do you remember a centipede?"

Terezi laughed. "Yes, that's the bug you killed for me! I helped a little though."

Yes, he could remember it. He remember fetching food for her, and being a team. A lighthearted teal grub with sharp angled horns and fluffy, wavy hair. There was no way it could not have been Terezi. "Oh my lord of almighty fire belching tits." Karkat breathed, not shouted. "You were there with me the whole time."

"I knew you'd remember!" Terezi chirped. She leaned in close and nuzzled Karkat's cheek, eliciting a squawk from the troll. "I guess we were made to be matesprits!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Karkat yelped, flailing to get Terezi's gestures of affection off of him. "Don't say soulmates YET, that's not how it works!"

Terezi smirked, backing off and flopping onto her side, rolling onto her back playfully like a fuzzbeast wriggler. "Well, mister I-know-everything-about-romance Vantas, don't you have a little faith in serendipity?"

"Aside from the most excellent movie, no." Karkat replied. "I personally believe you have to work for your quadrants, not just sit there and expect it to happen. Like how I won't even attempt to touch my black quadrant until I- AUGH"

Terezi had righted herself and pounced on him again, pinning him on his back. "Well, why don't you put some work into your flushed quadrant and kiss me?"

Karkat growled faintly, then let her have it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
